The Distinguished Gentlemen’s Club

Ricardo Perry’s mentoring program helped Josiah Dixon, now 20, find direction in life. Dixon currently serves in the 131st Military Police Company of the S.C. National Guard.

Ask Ricardo Perry why he began a mentoring program for at-risk youth, and he’ll tell you about the day he was riding through North Charleston with his mom. She pulled to the side of the road and rolled down her window to speak to a man the teenager had never seen before. As the stranger leaned his head into the car, Ricardo’s mother looked over and said, “Ricardo, this is your daddy.”

Ricardo was 15, and this was the first time he’d met his father. Here was a man who ought to have been important to him—someone with the obligation to teach and guide him—but who had been absent his whole life. Ricardo tried to establish a relationship, but, he says, his father rejected him a second time. “He said I was practically a grown man, and there was nothing he could do for me.”

In 2007, Ricardo became a police officer for the City of Hanahan. While on patrol, he often encountered aimless teenagers hanging out on the streets at night. He would stop and ask, “What are y’all doing? Why are y’all here?”

The answers he got in return were the typical tough-guy posturing of teenage boys, but, knowing firsthand the pain of not having a father at home, Ricardo recognized the truth behind their bravado. He knew the real issue was they had no place to go that felt like home. And he wanted them to have that.

Ricardo started the Distinguished Gentlemen’s Club in 2010, a mentoring program with the mission of creating a community connection and sense of purpose for at-risk students. The DGC guides young men from third grade to high-school graduation, seeking to raise future leaders by providing positive relationships with male role models. The program helps young men understand that, even if they don’t have a traditional family or a traditional father figure, they can still grow up to be valued members of their community and achieve their dreams.

Through mentorships, the Distinguished Gentlemen’s Club teaches the importance of dressing for success while encouraging integrity, self-discipline, academic success and community service.

From just 12 students in its first year, the program has grown to impact the lives of more than 300 young men. One of the first participants, Cameron Blackmon, connected with the program in the eighth grade. The positive relationships he made through DGC allowed him to break free from a crowd of negative friends and encouraged him to think about his future. Now an adult, Cameron has followed in Ricardo’s footsteps and also serves on the Hanahan police force, an accomplishment for which he shares credit with his mentor.

As Ricardo sees it, “The world is full of good, sound and moral people. Imagine if each of these individuals connected with just one child. Also, imagine that caring adult being there for them, encouraging them, helping them set goals and becoming successful. What would our world be like if that happened?”

If you know of other organizations working locally to solve problems and improve the lives of neighbors, please write to connections@ecsc.org or Connections, 808 Knox Abbott Drive, Cayce, SC 29033.

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